LITTLE ROCK — A dominating defense led Siloam Springs (7-0, 4-0 5A-West) to a 28-6 victory over Central Arkansas Christian (4-3, 3-1) at Mustang Mountain in North Little Rock on Friday night.
"That was a shocker of all shockers," Siloam Springs Coach Clint Ashcraft said of his team's play on the offensive and defensive lines. "These kids really played well. I didn't expect this against a team like CAC."
The Panthers limited the Mustangs to 139 yards of total offense for the game and piled up five sacks and two interceptions.
Siloam Springs held CAC to just 57 total yards of offense in the first half. The Panthers' Deric England was in on four sacks in the half.
The strong defensive play allowed the Panthers to begin their first three possessions of the game in CAC territory.
On the first drive of the game, Siloam Springs' Nick Brill intercepted a Zach Cole pass and returned it 41 yards for a touchdown.
A bad snap on a punt attempton the Mustangs' next possession gave Siloam Springs the ball on the CAC 24. Bryan Adair capped a five-play drive with a 1-yard run to make the score 12-0.
A 29-yard field goal gave Siloam Springs a 15-0 lead with 6:47 to play in the half
The Mustangs made the halftime score 15-6 with a 30-yard touchdown pass from Cole to Bryce Biggerstaff with 3:35 to play in the second quarter.
The Panthers opened the second half with a 15-play drive that covered 80 yards and took 6:12 off the clock. The touchdown came on a reverse pass. Adair handed off to Anthony Autry going to the left, and Autry then pitched it to Brill coming back to the right.
Brill then found Adair in the corner of the end zone for a 5-yard touchdown. The extra point was missed, and Siloam Springs led 21-6.
The Mustangs held the ball for just 1:34 before turning it over on downs.
Siloam Springs then ran the ball nine consecutive times to cover 58 yards, capped by an Adair sneak from a yard out to make the score 28-6.
Autry finished the game with 104 yards rushing on 23 carries. Jake Cifuentes added 103 yardsrushing on 13 carries for the Panthers. Adair completed 6 of 11 passes for 82 yards.
Sports, Pages 32 on 10/18/2008